Dark Fantasy Book Rec

A bloodthirsty cult of telepaths, human sacrifice, and a world of glass.

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Naheli’s Sacrifice, by Rabea Scholz, is a haunting coming of age dark fantasy novel with a literary pace.

The book revolves around a caste-based society that is determined by psychic ability. The empaths, like Naheli, live in a glass tower and only communicate telepathically. They eschew color and anything perceived as emotional.

Outside the tower, however, is where the non-empaths live. Non-empaths speak out loud, wear bright colors, and aren’t afraid to express their feelings.

Though the empaths are the dominant class, Naheli has a major problem.

She is about to die.

Seven days to live. Four rules to follow. One Sacrifice to make.

Through cold glass walls, Naheli looks down on the altar of the ocean goddess where she will die in seven days. She doesn’t mind much; the empaths have wiped her mind so clean that she hardly remembers what she once longed for. Only sometimes does she think of a colour in secret, or hum a forbidden tune.

Then her only remaining friend, the only one they haven’t found yet, hands her a letter that changes everything.

Spoiler Free, Guaranteed

At the opening of the book, Naheli is in the glass Spire interacting with her empath mentor. Here, Naheli telepathically expresses some of her initial longings for sound and color, which her mentor finds distressing. When the meeting is adjourned, Naheli sneaks out of the Spire and wanders over to the non-empath side of the island to visit her last friend, Thilkhan.

Since Thilkhan cannot hear her thoughts, Naheli is forced to speak out loud, a process which takes some effort for her. During their conversation, Thilkhan reveals that he has received a message for her. He hands her a sky-blue envelope holding a letter written in a sloppy hand. What shocks her more than anything is the identity of the sender.

Forgotten feelings begin to surface, and Naheli remembers what it is like to cry, to laugh. To love. But her time is running out, and with the Sacrifice only days away, she sets out to solve the mystery of the letter — and discovers that most of her life has been a lie, and there may be some things worth living for.